Adrian Brijbassi2013-05-23T21:18:38-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/index.php?author=adrian-brijbassiCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Adrian BrijbassiGood old fashioned elbow grease.How Can Canada Attract More International Tourists?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32758122013-05-17T19:02:04-04:002013-05-18T08:46:10-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/Canadian Tourism Commission has come under unwarranted criticism this week. The truth is, any of us would be hard-pressed to find a government agency that manages to do more with less than the CTC. Its budget has been slashed by 20% to $58.5 million from the 2012 level of $72 million, a sum that had also been reduced from previous years. Yet, the Canadian tourism industry grew 4.2% in 2012, increasing its revenue to $81.9 billion. A $100-billion target has been set for 2015.
"We're the little engine that could," Michele McKenzie said last week in Cape Breton while attending that Nova Scotia region's annual tourism conference and she underscored that sentiment at Rendez-vous Canada, a yearly gathering of Canada's tourism and trade industry happening this week.
In the face of relentless competition and staggering budget cuts, the CTC has deployed a strategy that involves provincial and municipal tourism boards and agencies focusing on traditional markets like the United States. On the federal level, the CTC is pushing all of its efforts toward attracting consumers from Brazil, India, China, and Australia -- nations where revenue potential is immense. The economies of Brazil, India and China are going to continue to grow and their citizens will travel farther afield, and Canada has an opportunity to ensure consistent travel from those populations. Australians are used to long flights and the ascent in value of their currency allows many of them to fulfill the dream of venturing to Canada.
"The CTC deserves full credit for the work they've done. They are punching well above their weight, given where competitors have invested and in the face of enormous challenges," said David Goldstein, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, which advocates for travel-related businesses across the country.Goldstein is a straight talker and a pragmatist not shy about criticizing government. His praise is hard won and meaningful. "Every single one of Canada's competitors is increasing its spending on tourism, and we are going in exactly the opposite direction. The State of New York has now upped its tourism budget to $68 million, which means it is spending more than Canada."
Goldstein's main criticism is with the cost of air travel, saying the federal government should be working to reduce airfare costs and revamp its aviation cost structure, an area where the nation ranks 136th in the world. He suggests eliminating the value-added tax (VAT) that is charged on airfares, a strategy that has worked for other nations, or re-distributing that tax to tourism agencies. He also wants to see improved air access for emerging markets. None of those issues fall under the CTC's umbrella.
(My feeling? If you reduced airfare costs in Canada by only 15% it would reverse the trend of Canadians using airports in U.S. border cities. Last year, 5 million Canadians flew from across the border, equating to $2.3 billion and 70 fully booked flights lost to the U.S. Those lower airfares would also entice many more visitors to the nation. The reason this cost reduction doesn't happen is likely because one government agency would lose a lot of revenue from the lower airfares, even though there would be improvement in many other aspects of the economy.)
Goldstein and McKenzie were among a contingent of speakers who commented about the successes, challenges, and shortcomings of the nation's tourism industry in Ottawa. The dichotomy of Canada's tourism business was made clear through the presenters:
GOOD: The nation ranks first in reputation of travellers
BAD: It ranks 18th in number of visitors
GOOD: Its brand is so strong that it has been copied by numerous other nations, including the United States' Brand USA campaign
BAD: The budget cuts limit the amount of innovation the CTC can undertake
GOOD: Double-digit growth in visitors is occurring from markets such as China, India and Brazil
BAD: Traditional markets, including Germany and the United Kingdom, have seen drops in travel in 2011 and 2012.
The week-long event is in the nation's capital for the first time in 23 years and it is bigger than ever, with international tourism operators also on hand. The conference, held at the Ottawa Convention Centre, includes 1,500 delegates. More than a dozen international media, several from the Far East, are in attendance as attention on Canada increases thanks in large part to efforts by the CTC to concentrate on markets where visitors come a long way and tend to stay longer and expend more money. China, Japan, Korea, Brazil, and Australia are nations whose visitation rates are bright spots for Canada.
Why the CTC Should Maintain Its Focus on China
China is now the world leader in global travel, leapfrogging the U.S. and Germany to become the first nation to have its travellers spend $100 billion in foreign destinations. Only 288,000 of them came to Canada in 2012, which equates to just one-quarter of 1% of Chinese travellers. If the marketing efforts by the CTC can deliver a full 1% of those 83 million travellers, it would produce more than $1 billion in revenue (based on the average of $1,701 that Chinese travellers spent in Canada in 2012). Canada has one of the two strongest travel brands in the world -- based on exit surveys of frequent travellers by Future Brand Index, an independent UK-based organization that rates marketing efforts of a range of industries. Once people get here, they like what they find. I discovered that myself at Rendez-vous, speaking to the visiting journalists who were unanimously overwhelmed by two things: How well Canadians get along with each other in a multicultural nation and the vast amount of space in the country. "There are no people here," said one incredulous journalist from China, who was wide-eyed and excited that so much nature was available to be explored.
]]>Forget America: Canada's International Tourism Is Growingtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32682342013-05-14T12:03:07-04:002013-05-14T12:10:19-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism says it is the people of the country who are the tourism industry's greatest asset for attracting travellers.
Bernier kicked off the annual Rendez-vous Canada travel and trade conference at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec on Sunday night and afterwards spoke with Vacay.ca about an industry that has seen its annual marketing budget cut by 20 per cent. Those spending reductions from the federal government come when most of the rest of the developed world is increasing spending and initiatives to grow tourism. While the Canadian tourism industry faces headwinds from its traditional markets because of the continued lagging economies in Europe and the United States, it has seen growth in other parts of the world. Bernier credits the nation's reputation and its citizens for some of that success.
"They're warm, they're welcoming. We are very open to visitors. It is why our country is so popular. Our biggest advantage is our people," said Bernier, who also represents the riding of Beauce, south of Quebec City, in Parliament.
Bernier named Old Quebec City as a place visitors should see "for its beauty and food." He also tabbed Banff National Park for skiing, and Toronto for its entertainment aspects and the one-of-a-kind sensation of the EdgeWalk at the CN Tower. The EdgeWalk, which opened in 2011, sends visitors walking on the exterior of the tallest building in Canada. They traverse a platform while a harness keeps them tethered to the tower.
"I did the EdgeWalk around the CN Tower. That is something. It could be scary, but it is a thrill. It's safe. You can see the city from the outside of the tower. It's a very popular attraction," Bernier said.
Government ministries across the country have set a revenue goal of $100 billion by 2015 for the tourism industry. Yet, the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) budget has been slashed to $58 million from $72 million. Meanwhile, the one-year-old Brand USA campaign spends $150 million annually to attract visitors -- including Canadians -- to the United States. Other first-world nations have also increased their spending on tourism marketing. Despite the lack of resources and increased competition, the Canadian tourism industry still grew 4.2% in 2012, increasing its revenue to $81.9 billion. The nation ranks eighth in the World Economic Forum's 2013 Travel and Tourism Competitive Report. Bernier is a believer in Canada's many strengths as a destination and the economic importance of the industry.
Read the rest of the report from Rendez-vous Canada at Vacay.ca.]]>Why Joe Beef Is Canada's Best Restauranttag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32382852013-05-08T17:38:24-04:002013-05-14T15:45:50-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/ Joe Beef has been voted Canada's best restaurant isn't going to come as a surprise to enthusiasts of the nation's food scene. But many will be shocked that the iconic restaurant's hometown, Montreal, trails Calgary in the number of entries placed in the 2013 Vacay.ca Top 50 Restaurants in Canada Guide.
Montreal ranks third in the nation with seven entries on the list that was determined by a mix of votes from 34 judges and the Canadian public, who submitted more than 8,000 entries and covered more than 425 restaurants in the nation. Toronto led all cities with 10 entries while Calgary -- once thought of as a culinary desert -- landed eight restaurants on the Top 50 list. Connie DeSousa, the co-owner of fifth-ranked CHARCUT, Calgary's leading entrant, was recognized as Canada's Best Female Chef, while year-old Model Milk landed at No. 7.
"It's great to see Calgary's talented chefs and restaurateurs receive recognition for their creativity and passion that have helped build the culinary scene in our city," says Gisele Danis, VP Marketing and Communications of Tourism Calgary. "The results from the Top 50 list are exciting for us. Calgary is well known for our iconic Stampede and the Rockies; this helps shine a spotlight on our flourishing culinary scene that the rest of Canada may not been aware of."
David McMillan, co-owner of Joe Beef, was thrilled with the recognition as the nation's number one restaurant. Joe Beef has been a force in Montreal's restaurant scene both as a destination for culinary travelers and as an influencer of other establishments in the city. McMillan and business partner Frédéric Morin published a best-selling cookbook in 2012 that further boosted their reputation. The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts, won the renowned Piglet award for best cookbook last year and was shortlisted for a James Beard prize.
"This is amazing and I am honoured," McMillan said when he found out about the win in a telephone interview that took place during a taping of the rankings.
BLOG CONTINUES AFTER SLIDESHOW
How the Top 50 Restaurants in Canada was Determined
In the Vacay.ca poll, Joe Beef led all restaurants in voting from the judges -- who include some of the nation's finest chefs such as Rouge's Paul Rogalski, Raymonds' Jeremy Charles and Terry Pichor of Sonora Resort -- and placed seventh in votes from the public. Votes from the judging academy make up 75 per cent of the Top 50 results, with the public votes accounting for the rest of the total.
Diner Jo-Ann Samo praised McMillan and Morin's enterprise in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighbourhood when she submitted her vote.
"I must admit the Joe Beef experience is unlike any other that you will encounter. It is a cavalcade of outstanding dishes, each a conquest of amazingly glorious, gluttonous and eccentric recipes. Servers were knowledgeable, friendly and welcoming. It's a celebration that needs to be on everyone's 2013 bucket list," said Samo, a finalist for the Vacay.ca Foodie of the Year Contest that gives one public voter a luxury getaway and dinner at the Top 50 restaurant of his or her choice.
Vacay.ca judge Dustin Gilman, who runs the Montreal Food Guy website, credited Joe Beef for its inventiveness and consistency.
"I can't remember if I've ever had anything Dave and Fred made that I didn't like. There's a reason why a reservation at Joe Beef is one of the hardest to make in the city," Gilman said.
"Creating a comprehensive list of the best restaurants in Canada is no simple task. It involves finding the right judges with the right experience, but it also means finding judges who can adequately represent each region of our vast country," said Janine MacLean-Kennedy, the Chair of the Top 50 Restaurants in Canada.
"The great thing about the dining scene in Canada is that it's less about hype and pretense and more about quality, experience and innovation. Our judges get that, and so do the Canadian public who came out in droves to vote for their favourite restaurants. From strict adherence to our Top 50 Constitution, our amazing judging panel and the huge out-pour of public support, the list we have developed is representative, transparent and puts food quality above all else. I am extremely proud to have been a part of this endeavor in the company of some of the country's best chefs and food writers."
Joe Beef leaped over Vij's, last year's winner of the inaugural Top 50 Restaurants in Canada list, and Langdon Hall to claim top spot.
Visit Vacay.ca to learn more about the Top 50 Restaurants in Canada results, including the name of the People's Choice winner.]]>Why Canadians Prefer Independent Restaurantstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.31797462013-04-29T17:00:00-04:002013-04-29T17:12:06-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/Vacay.ca Top 50 Restaurants in Canada Guide I was afraid of two things: 1. We would receive so many votes that we would be up for days and nights counting and recounting them all, and 2. The voting would be hijacked by a giant corporation and, living by the rules of our own creation, we would be bound to list among the best restaurants in the country an establishment that had strength in numbers and dollars but not in passion for its product.
One of those fears did come true, but it's the one we would prefer to contend with. Canadians have proven to be enthusiastic and inspired supporters of their favourite eateries, evidenced by the thousands of votes Vacay.ca received as it asked the nation to participate in naming the country's best restaurants. But the most interesting outcome of the public balloting may be who did not receive any votes at all.
There was not one email or Twitter message sent to us commending a franchise of a corporate restaurant chain. Oliver & Bonacini, the Toronto-based owner of such restaurants as Canoe and Auberge du Pommier, was the only major corporate enterprise to receive public support. No Keg or Milestone's or McDonald's or Wendy's.
That's not to say burger joints, pizzerias and pubs didn't compel patrons to send in votes. Una Pizza & Wine in Calgary, Cheese Curds Gourmet Burgers and Poutiniere in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and Toronto's Burger's Priest were among the casual, low-priced eateries whose fans notified Vacay.ca that they were deserving of a place among the Top 50. We will soon know whether those restaurants make it; runner-up establishments will be named daily beginning on April 25, leading to the announcement of the Top 50 on May 1.
With the votes now counted and the most definitive survey of the nation's restaurant scene about to be revealed, the results will impact where we dine. More than 60 per cent of Canadians eat out once a week, according to a 2012 report by Visa Canada. The Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) reports that 40.2 per cent of citizens rank going to a restaurant as their preferred activity to enjoy with friends. In a $60 billion industry, learning which restaurants connect with individuals is crucial for improving the product offered, as well as helping Canadians to decide where they should spend their money.
Here's what I think the public voting outcome means about Canadians' tastes.
Restaurants run by small-business owners engender much more loyalty than corporate franchises that spend big dollars on advertising and prepare menus targeted at the mass market.
Many of those small-business owners are leading a local food movement that is changing the way we consume meals. There's more concern for nutrition, food safety and organic produce than ever, and we are only at the beginning of this movement. In years to come, large corporate restaurants that continue to buy in quantity rather than opting to support local farmers and food suppliers will lose market share to chefs who prepare better quality food with better quality products and charge approximately the same price.
Most importantly, the food is superior -- often far superior -- and more innovative at restaurants where the chef is also among the ownership group. That chef is often the face of the enterprise and will be keen to the fact his or her reputation is at stake with every diner who pulls up a chair. Independent restaurants are going to care for your satisfaction and that personal attention has resonated in the Vacay.ca survey. Feeling as if you are visiting someone's home when you dine out is a theme that has come across in the voting, no matter the price point. Restaurants from New Brunswick's Saint John Ale House, where most meals can be purchased for less than $20, to Ruby Watchco in Toronto ($49 for a three-course meal) to Atelier in Ottawa ($110 for 12 courses) all drew praise for the homeyness of their atmosphere. While these restaurants put a premium on service and top-quality dining experiences, corporate enterprises such as East Side Mario's and Casey's (both owned by Prime Restaurants Inc.) have focused the last two years on expanding into larger and less intimate spaces to "maximize revenues" and increasing their television advertising spend by "four-fold."
Service is also more elegant and gracious at independent restaurants because passionate chefs and restaurateurs are more likely to instill a sense of pride in their staff. The best of them also recruit service-industry professionals they admire. Likewise, servers and bartenders are more concerned about their jobs if they are working for their relatives or friends, as tends to be the case at independent eateries. The same is true of the kitchen staff, and isn't that the most important thing you want to know when you dine out? That the people preparing your food are vested in your satisfaction of it?
To me, what the Vacay.ca voting shows is Canadians who still choose to dine at large corporate chain restaurants must only do so because they want the security of knowing what they're getting for their money. That sense of familiarity comes through advertising and the corporate chains' fortune to afford a nationwide presence. Aside from a handful of famous restaurants like Vancouver's Vij's and Montreal's Joe Beef, independent restaurants don't have name recognition across the country or even outside of their neighbourhoods. They have to rely on word of mouth, which in essence is what the Vacay.ca vote was about.
There are no luxury restaurant chains in the country, but in the mid-price range ($25 dinner entrees) and lower, corporate restaurants and independent restaurants are in fierce competition. Thing is, corporate restaurants can't compete on quality, service, hospitality or nutritional value. Yet, they still out-compete small-business owners in profit and revenue (Prime Restaurants earns about $7 million a year). The reason why comes down to the answer to one question: Where should we go to eat?
It's pondered 17 million times a day in this country: That's how many visits Canadians make to restaurants, according to the CRFA. If you've heard of a place, you're more likely to give it your business -- even if it's mediocre quality and a poor value choice for your money.
With involvement from Canadians from coast to coast, the Vacay.ca guide to the nation's best places to dine out gives you a responsibly produced resource to make more informed and more economical choices with your restaurant decisions. As an independent publisher focused on the quality of our content rather than the profit we make from it, we are keenly aware of -- and sympathetic to -- the challenges of restaurant owners and chefs.
More About Voting for the Vacay.ca 2013 Top 50 Restaurants in Canada
Public voting: The Canadian public emailed votes for their favourite restaurants and each voter became eligible for the Foodie of the Year Contest, which includes round-trip airfare, luxury hotel stay and dinner for two at the Top 50 restaurant of the winner's choice.
Judges: The 34 members of the Vacay.ca Judges Academy voted for between 5-10 restaurants and awarded each of their selections a weighted value. The public votes are added to the judges' votes to determine the 2013 Top 50 Restaurants in Canada. Results will be published on May 1, with runner-up restaurants announced daily between April 25-30.
Follow the Results: On Twitter, use #Vacay50 to follow the countdown of the Top 50 Restaurants in Canada and runner-up entries from 51-100. The countdown begins on April 25, with the Top 50 being revealed at 11 am ET on May 1.
]]>Tips for Going to an Ottawa Senators Gametag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30937682013-04-16T17:00:00-04:002013-04-16T17:28:38-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/
When complete, the soft-spoken government worker looks like a menacing warrior ready to terrorize. Along with the paint, Dupont wears a gladiator outfit that cost $1,200 on eBay and carries a plastic sword and sometimes a giant flag with the emblem of his team, the Ottawa Senators.
His outfit is made of metal and hard plastic, with enough bulk that it makes it hard to do anything but stand. Turns out that's a good thing, because when Dupont and his fellow gladiators -- self-professed "Superfans" -- go to a game they don't have a seat anyway.
"We have an agreement with the team that they give us access to the arena and we come to boost up the crowd, add some spirit to the rink," he said during a recent game against the New York Rangers, which the Senators won at Scotiabank Place.
Dupont and his friend Jesse Jodoin began the ritual of donning gladiator outfits in 2007, the year the Senators went to the Stanley Cup finals, losing in five games to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. They and other gladiators attend about 10 games a year each in costume.
The Sens' gladiators have become one of the attractions at the NHL rink that seats 19,153. Along with the kid-friendly mascot, Spartacat, the gladiators pump up a crowd that is regarded as too quiet. When the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens play road games in Ottawa, it's routine to hear fans of the visiting side drown out the home team's supporters.
This year, the Senators asked season-ticket holders to refrain from selling their seats to fans of rival teams, particularly the Leafs and Canadiens. The request was met with snickers from observers around the league, several of whom said the team should focus on getting more out of its own fans rather than thwarting efforts of others trying to reach the rink.
Tips for Going to an Ottawa Senators NHL Game
It's a perplexing situation that has existed since the team's inception in 1992. Despite the fact the Senators have been one of the NHL's winningest teams over the past 12 seasons, the rink isn't always full and it's not always loud.
One reason is because of location. Scotiabank Place is the only NHL arena in Canada that isn't within the urban centre of a city. It's in Kanata, about 20 kilometres from downtown Ottawa, a drive that can be aggravatingly long, which is why most weekday home games start at 7:30 pm rather than 7 o'clock like in other Canadian markets. A downtown rink attracts a boisterous crowd ready to make a night of it, win or lose.
At Scotiabank Place, the overwhelming majority of attendees must drive. That means less drinking, which means less noise -- and that's not a bad thing. Senators fans are among the league's most polite and respectful. If you're a fan, you can follow the action without worrying if the hooligan next to you is going to drop his beer on your lap (unless of course your neighbour is wearing a Leafs jersey, in which case you'd be advised to find Dupont or Jodoin to heckle him into an early departure).
Before and after the games, Bert's is jumping, with live music and sports action on 23 large TV screens. It's a festive place, with tiki bar decor and other Caribbean touches inspired by Bert's in Barbados, which Senators owner Eugene Melynk has a stake in. Concession booths at Scotiabank Place are, not surprisingly, overpriced but Bert's prices and fare are what you would expect to find at any sports bar.
When making your decision on where to stay for the game, your first option should be the Brookstreet Hotel. Besides being extremely comfortable, the Brookstreet is the place where visiting NHL teams choose when they're in town for a game.
The players aren't off-limits either. I found myself in an elevator with the Rangers' Rick Nash and dining alongside some of his teammates at Perspectives restaurant.
"All of the teams have very specific menus they want us to create," chef Clifford Lyness said.
"More and more, we're seeing requests for organic dishes. We work closely with the team's nutritionists and sometimes the requests can be a challenge, but we always do whatever we can to meet their needs."
To read more tips about where to stay and what to do when going to an Ottawa Senators game, visit Vacay.ca.
For what it's like to go to jam-packed Rexall Place for an Edmonton Oilers game, click here.
For what it's like to go to a Calgary Flames game, click here.
]]>How Canada Can Attract More Chinese Travellerstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30888502013-04-16T12:00:36-04:002013-04-16T12:13:46-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/World Tourism Organization revealed statistics this month that showed China was the new No. 1 in travel, the implications became clear. The world has talked for a decade about how Asia, led by China and India, will dominate this century economically and the fact Chinese travellers spent a record $102 billion while visiting other countries last year punctuated that belief.
The growth represented a 41 per cent increase from 2011 in spending on foreign travel. More than 83 million Chinese took trips outside of their nation in 2012, compared to just 10 million who did so in 2000. However, only 288,000 of those travellers made overnight visits to Canada. While an increase of 18.3 per cent over the previous year's total of 244,000 visitors, the number represents only a little more than one quarter of 1 per cent of the overall market for Chinese travellers.
The glass-half-full optimist would say Canada has massive potential to capture a significantly larger share of China's swelling middle class. And the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) certainly is thinking that way. It has an aggressive marketing program -- including a weekly promotional TV series -- in place in the world's most populous country. Another organization, the Consider Canada City Alliance Inc., announced on Monday it is heading on a three-city "investment mission" to China in hopes of encouraging more Chinese investment into Canada.
Pessimists, however, will point out that China's economy is facing significant challenges and the cost of flights to Canada (roughly $2,000 round-trip from Beijing to either Vancouver or Toronto) is always going to pose a challenge. The lack of on-the-ground familiarity with Canada will also make it difficult to ignite growth in Chinese travel and there's only so much the CTC can do without complementary marketing strategies from private travel operators.
Chinese travellers primarily visit neighbouring Asian countries like Singapore and Japan. When they do take long-haul flights, their preferred destination is Australia. It is that country that could potentially help Canada. For one thing, Canada is culturally similar to Australia, and pointing out that similarity in advertising campaigns could be a way to entice travellers to venture farther afield. But what will be most effective is building a foundation for sustained travel from China akin to what we see with Australia, where each generation makes it a goal to visit Canada just as Canadians often dream of venturing Down Under.
While the number of Australians who visited Canada in 2012 (113,100) was less than half of the Chinese total, it represented about 1.5 per cent of total travel for citizens from Oz. If Canada were to receive the same percentage from China, it would equate to an influx of 1.25 million visitors from that country and annual tourism revenue of $2.1 billion. (On average, a visitor from China spends $1,701 in this country, according to CTC statistics.)
To get to that level, Canada needs time to forge relationships and find marketing strategies that work in China like they do in Australia. Success will lead to increased third-party bookings and promotions, and the Canadian government won't need to do so much work to get business. A peek at the Expedia Australia website shows featured marketing programs for Canadian destinations, particularly Vancouver, where 43 per cent of Australians who visited Canada in 2012 landed.
Australians can book Air Canada flights and hotel stays to most of this nation's major cities through Expedia Australia and other online booking websites. But in China, eLong, a leading online travel booking site that is partly owned by Expedia, doesn't feature any Canadian destinations at all. When you do a search for hotel nights, the rates returned are also high, indicating a lack of partnership agreements between the booking site and the Canadian hotel industry.
Expedia Australia, meanwhile, offers exceptional savings for hotels and attractions in Canada. Although the cost of airfare is still high, the rise in the Australian dollar has led to more Australians travelling (only 5.1 million journeyed abroad five years ago), which is one reason they are a target market for the CTC.
There was a 6.5 per cent increase in year-over-year travel from Australia to Canada last year. A rise in Australian travel may not get as many headlines, because the sheer numbers aren't anywhere near what China can deliver, but it's still significant for the health of the Canadian travel industry. And Australia serves as a model of how to attract more of that coveted Chinese market in the years ahead.
]]>Elite Chefs Coming to Toronto for Culinary Eventtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30107082013-04-04T12:12:32-04:002013-04-04T14:56:05-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/Terroir Symposium. This year the schedules aligned and the executive chef of Noma is the marquee name among a list of culinary stars ready to appear at Monday's gathering that's focused on encouraging better practices in the industry and celebrating local food.
"I made a film with Rene last year about Noma's Saturday night menu, which is pretty significant and pretty fantastic. Getting to know Rene even more than I had before helped to build that relationship. We were trying to get him here for three years but in 2010 he and his wife had just had a baby, and last year our conference was four days away from the World's 50 Best awards," Stein, the event's founder and chairperson, said last week. "This year he decided to come and we are thrilled. We have outstanding international chefs and amazing Canadian chefs."
The day-long symposium will be held at the Arcadian Court, an Oliver & Bonacini venue at the historic Simpson Tower. It will include seminars that range from appetizing (cooking demonstrations) to thirst-quenching (craft brew workshop) to thought-provoking (a debate on "culinary cannibalism").
Along with Redzepi, whose Copenhagen restaurant has ranked atop the World's 50 Best Restaurants list for three straight years, other international chefs at Terroir will include Magnus Nilsson of Sweden's Faviken, Kobe Desramaults of Michelin-starred In de Wulf in Belgium, and South African Peter Templehoff of The Collection by Liz McGrath.
Among the notable Canadian chefs in attendance are Marc Lepine of Ottawa's Atelier, Jeremy Charles of Raymonds in St. John's, and Connie DeSousa and John Jackson of CHARCUT in Calgary -- all of whom will perform cooking demonstrations.
Terroir will be a more high-profile gathering than culinary events with larger advertising budgets and more prominent histories in Toronto. While it is a gathering for the industry and not for culinary travellers, it is still a tourism driver for the city.
"It's subtle and very grassroots what we are doing," Stein said. "We're not overly swamped with people. You can stand in the halls and have a conversation. I think the chefs like that."
While Terroir started in Toronto and is in its seventh year, Stein is aiming to expand to "another Canadian city." The notion of Terroir -- which to a great degree depends on the willingness of chefs to share their coveted ideas, practices, recipes, and sources -- would not have worked in the 20th century, Stein said.
"We happened to come around just as the local food movement really started to take hold. It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time for us. We filled a gap in the marketplace because all of a sudden everyone needed more information and a way to build real resources around sustainability," said Stein, who has spent recent months in Europe networking with several of the chefs who will be attending the symposium. (She is also a judge for the Vacay.ca Top 50 Restaurants in Canada.)
She thought of the idea for the conference while "sitting around in my back patio and talking to friends, those of us who were part of small owner-operated restaurants." Stein, who worked at Hart House on the University of Toronto campus, saw a need for more community within the city's food industry and she has built this networking event to facilitate that sense of togetherness.
"It's done so much for the industry in Canada and in Ontario. We get together and talk about ways to collaborate and make improvements to the industry," said Scott Vivian, owner and chef at Beast and a participant at this year's gathering. "We're really fortunate in Toronto to have a program like this."
Read the rest of this article on Vacay.ca and you will learn how to get tickets to Terroir.]]>Toronto's Legendary El Mocambo Will Soon Have Fine Diningtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.29248742013-03-21T17:37:15-04:002013-05-21T05:12:01-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/ Michael Pataran , who has cooked at the esteemed James Beard House in New York and for a resort in the Bahamas co-owned by Tiger Woods, is part of a group that has purchased the venerable El Mocambo and is turning it into what he says Toronto needs: A place where rockers and chefs combine their talents to create sweet music.
"Toronto doesn't have anything like this. It's always had good music venues, but the quality of the food just wasn't there," Pataran told Vacay.ca on Tuesday night as he set up a pop-up taco stand at the back of the main floor of the El Mo. "New York, London, Los Angeles all have done it. So, we thought it would be a really cool idea to bring that to Toronto, and to do it at the El Mo is just fantastic."
BLOG CONTINUES AFTER SLIDESHOW
After Canadian Music Week, which wraps up on Sunday, Pataran said the El Mo would go through a renovation until it re-opens in the fall with three levels of dining. The idea is for a gastropub to take up the first floor and a fine-dining establishment to occupy the second. The establishment obtained a licence last year for a rooftop patio, which could open in 2014.
"I've been coming to the El Mo since I was 18, when I snuck in the door like everybody else," Pataran said. "We're excited about doing it here."
Pataran is well known for turning out stellar Asian cuisine at Monsoon in downtown Toronto and Wildfire at Taboo Resort in Muskoka. In the Bahamas, he was the executive chef at Albany, a luxury resort that Woods and fellow pro golfer Ernie Els co-own. (It is the same resort where David Chow, now running the Chocolate Lab at the Trump Toronto, worked as the pastry chef.) Pataran said the El Mo's location in Chinatown will influence the food.
It's the venue's Latin influence that has inspired the $5 tacos (pork and mole, thai curry chicken or ropa vieja) being offered during this week's festival, which will feature a Saturday performance by Charlotte Church. Hers will be one of the final concerts for a while in a tavern that has hosted U2, the Rolling Stones, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. The Stones famously played under the pseudonym "The Cockroaches" in a pair of secret shows in 1977 that became part of the double album Love You Live.
Vacay.ca has more about the history of the El Mocambo and highlights and photos from Canadian Music Week. Click here for more.
]]>Why Canadians Shouldn't Travel to Indiatag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.29168352013-03-21T12:26:13-04:002013-05-21T05:12:01-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/Breathedreamgo.com, that the media is guilty of sensationalism in the coverage of rapes in India.
Mariellen's points are brilliantly and thoughtfully articulated. I disagree with her assessment, however. The attention the media is giving to the rape epidemic in India is long, long overdue. I don't call it sensationalism, I call it scrutiny. And I want the media to continue to report on the crimes against women, as well as the misogyny that exists within the culture of India, where female babies are killed at an alarming rate because too many fathers still see daughters as a burden, not a gift.
That depraved practice has led to a female-to-male ratio of 914-to-1,000, according to India Times. Such an unnatural skew creates a disturbing imbalance. Combine that disproportion with poverty and a legal system that casually turns a blind eye on crimes against women and you are confronted with stomach-turning facts about rape. A popularly reported figure states that one woman in India is raped every 20 minutes, according to the nation's crime bureau. That's a conservative number because many rapes do go undocumented. Worse, more than 7,200 children are rape victims each year, a BBC report says.
BLOG CONTINUES AFTER SLIDESHOW
As a Canadian, should you be scared? Not really. As Mariellen points out, and as I agree, travel is a safe and rewarding experience for the overwhelming majority of travellers -- no matter where we go. But ask, is India as safe to travel as anywhere else? The answer is no, it's not.
According to statistics from Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs, the violent crime rate against Canadian travellers in India is much higher than in most other popular destinations. For every 100,000 Canadians who visit India, 7.5 of them are violently assaulted or murdered. By comparison, Mexico has a rate of 3.1 such incidents for every 100,000 Canadian travellers and the United States is at a rate of 0.09 for every 100,000.
Why are these statistics more relevant and believable than the numbers that show India's per-capita rape count is roughly the same as Canada's (1.8 vs. 1.7 for every 100,000 people)?
Because the Department of Foreign Affairs' statistics come from one agency while international statistics rely on accuracy from each nation, and rapes are grossly underreported in India and some other developing nations where politicians and police are not watched as carefully as they are in countries where the rule of law can usurp the will of rulers. While reports say that rape is the fastest-growing crime in India, it's more accurate to say it is the country's fastest-growing reported crime. Indian women are, thankfully, adopting the idea that they should speak out.
Yes, there are more dangerous places than India, and yes, in a nation of 1.2 billion people the cumulative amount of crime will be greater than just about every other country. But when 635 rapes are reported in Delhi, as occurred last year, and only one case sees a conviction, there is something criminal in both the streets of the nation and its legislature.
Sustained media scrutiny from Europe, Canada, Australia, the United States and elsewhere will eventually lead to action. If that helps give women in India the protection they need from their would-be attackers and the attention of lawmakers who haven't shown enough care, then we should welcome more media attention on this ugly aspect of the country -- not less.
If the definition of news is coverage of a situation out of the ordinary, then attempts to persuade the media that what is happening in India isn't unusual in a global context actually works against the best interests of the women of that nation. The argument that it (violence against women) happens everywhere, so India shouldn't be chastised if South Africa isn't only serves to maintain the status quo. It allows the police and the legislators who are facing pressure to argue "we're no worse than anyone else, so stop picking on us."
Use Your Travel Dollars to Send a Message to India
What does this mean for travellers to India?
For one thing, it means you need to understand that India is the most romanticized developing nation on the planet. Its marketing efforts are pinned on the Taj Mahal -- the world's greatest symbol of one man's love for one woman -- and the laudable aspects of its culture, including its deep spirituality that has spurred an industry around yoga travel and the beautiful legacy of non-aggression left by Mohandas Gandhi.
That's the veneer. It's the salespitch that entices you to commit your travel dollars to come. What's the reality?
Read Vacay.ca writer Mariellen Ward's take on travelling to India on Breathedreamgo.com]]>The Chef Who Got Anthony Bourdain to Layover in Torontotag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.28089192013-03-06T07:37:59-05:002013-05-06T05:12:01-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/
The chef and owner of Beast, an inventive restaurant on a dark side street in the city's trendy King and Bathurst neighbourhood, downed "a couple of Steam Whistles and then got up the courage" to tell Anthony Bourdain he should film an episode of his TV show in Toronto.
Vivian was cooking for Bourdain while the New York-based TV personality known for No Reservations and The Layover was appearing at Massey Hall in 2010. According to Vivian, "He was telling me that whenever he goes to Vancouver or Montreal, people are 'always talking shit about Toronto.' So, I told him he should come see for himself. I suggested he do his show here because there's so much going on in the culinary scene in the city. And it's not BS. I'm from Montreal, I grew up in the States, I've travelled to a lot of places. What we have here is for real and it's exciting. I thought he should see it."
That's exactly what Bourdain did. He and his crew arrived last year to shoot an episode of The Layover, which hit The Travel Channel and YouTube in December. Since then, North American foodies have been buzzing into Toronto to follow in Bourdain's fork-steps.
A beneficiary of the attention has been Vivian, who Bourdain featured prominently in his Toronto episode. In fact, Bourdain credits Vivian on more than one occasion for convincing him to come to Toronto. Although Bourdain didn't dine at Beast, he endorsed both Vivian's cooking and his taste for food as the two got together for bites around town.
"As a business owner, that's the great thing about all this. I can see the results, because we have so many people coming in from the States saying they want to eat at Beast because they saw Bourdain's show," Vivian said. "We've been packed on a lot of nights with reservations since the episode came out."
It's a good thing Bourdain connected with Vivian, because he is one of the city's chefs whose cuisine demonstrates the diversity of Toronto. At Beast, diners will find homemade kimchi (pickled and spicy cabbage from Korea), gulab jamun (an Indian dessert that consists of fried dough in a syrupy sauce), an Italian-style poutine made with gnocchi instead of French fries, and delicious fried pickles, sliced thin like potato chips. The menu changes often. The food I tried this week was outstanding, served tapas style and priced inexpensively, partly because the location isn't on a main strip that would command high rent. On Wednesdays, diners can enjoy half-price bottles of wine, which include some excellent choices like 2008 Tollgate Red from Niagara-on-the-Lake's Stratus Vineyards ($46, full price) and a 2009 Cesca Vicent Grenache-Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Spain ($56). Vivian was a part-owner of the 9 Church Wine Bar, which made the 2012 Vacay.ca Top 50 Restaurants in Canada Guide, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the Beast wine list is outstanding.
While Beast has been acclaimed in Toronto since its opening in 2010, Bourdain is the one who has brought Vivian's restaurant and others in the city to the attention of a large American audience. Famous for his blunt statements and expletive-laden turns of phrase, Bourdain appeared to genuinely like Canada's largest metropolis. He compared it to Brooklyn and even said at the end of the episode he could see himself living in Toronto. Taken by the tremendous harmony between the ethnicities in the city, Bourdain and the people he interviewed expressed praise for the variety of cuisine available in Toronto and for the range of chefs working in its kitchens.
"They edited out a couple of scenes where you could really tell he was having a good time," Vivian told me on Monday as he took part in a promotional event at Biff's Bistro for the upcoming Terroir Symposium in Toronto.
]]>Angostura Bartending Contest Adds Flavour to Trinidad's Carnivaltag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.27744302013-02-28T00:25:57-05:002013-04-29T05:12:01-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/
The eighth Global Cocktail Challenge took place last week at the House of Angostura, a distillery that produces several varieties of rum as well as its famed bitters, a staple of the cocktail industry.
Contestants came to Trinidad & Tobago from 11 different countries. Each one won a regional competition that elevated him into the final round, which took place on February 10, a few hours prior to the start of Carnival celebrations in this Caribbean nation.
There are rules and contest stipulations that prevent the Angostura challenge from being a true indicator of a top bartender. For one thing, the people who should be in the running for the title -- including Salvatore Calabrese, whose Salvatore at Playboy in London is a groundbreaking cocktail bar, and Japanese cocktail pioneer Hidetsugu Ueno -- were on the other side of the competition table, serving as judges. Contestants must use Angostura products as well, limiting their flexibility. But there's no doubting that the contestants are among the best in their profession. Canada's entrant, Oliver Stern of the Toronto Temperance Society, has previously won a Disaronno national competition.
And there is definitely a higher level of skill and discipline involved in mixology than most barflies would realize.
"Judges will deduct points if a contestant doesn't use a strainer to remove excess water from a glass or if there are spills. Presentation is important. Personality is very important," said Ian Burrell, who has won several cocktail competitions and is a leading authority on rum making.
While building the cocktails, each contestant had seven minutes to mix two drinks and was tasked with speaking to the judges and audience, which included global media members. One finalist, Stanislav Mukhin of Ukraine, learned English in order to make his presentation.
Most fascinating was to gain an insight into the ingredients being incorporated around the world. The South African entrant, Dominic Walsh, used a beer from his homeland in one of his recipes, while American Sean Frederick featured teas, including the powerful and smoky Lapsang suchong from China. India's Pankaj Kamble had flower syrup as an ingredient, and 22-year-old New Zealander Jake Searell, the contest's youngest competitor, used tea, brown butter and maple syrup in his recipes. Stern's Burning Embers cocktail included his homemade jalapeño-infused orgeat, a syrup. He made the drink and the Trip Flip, a regular item on the Toronto Temperance Society drinks menu, for the contest. However, he finished out of the running.
Trinidad's Daniyel Jones became a hometown hero when he took top honours while Muhkin placed second and Argentina's Daniel Biber came in third. Jones claimed a $10,000 US cheque and the opportunity to represent Angostura as a judge at 2013 regional competitions around the world.
While disappointed in his performance, Stern was thrilled to have the opportunity. "It's a victory just to be here," he said. "The people are amazing and the experience is one I'll never forget."
Carnival Thrills in Trinidad
The Mardi Gras of the Caribbean takes place each February in Port-of-Spain, the capital of Trinidad & Tobago. It is wild, fun, hectic, colourful and refreshingly free of order. Among the attendees this year was Canadian basketball star and former Toronto Raptors forward Jamaal Magliore.
During the parade, there's a rope line on either side of the street, but that rope line is only lightly guarded, meaning photographers can hustle in to take shots of the dancers and their costumes, and onlookers can jump in to march along for a few metres with the parade. There are drinks trucks, marvellous vehicles where bartenders pour alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages into cups for any parade-goer with a wristband and the stamina to jog alongside the mobile bar. The music is loud -- achingly so -- and the song choice is so repetitive that it makes a dentist's drill sound harmonious. (You will need hypnotherapy to remove Bunji Garlin's "Differentology (Ready for the Road)" from your hippocampus after attending the Carnival.)
Called Mas (short for "masquerade"), the annual Carnival on Fat Tuesday is the culmination of a days-long celebration that includes a children's carnival, an overnight dance-til-dawn festivity called Jouvert, and a half-day Mas. It is one of the few remaining massive events in the world that has not been spoiled by commercialization and political structure. You will have fun at the Trinidad Carnival, that's guaranteed. But you're also likely to come away with a sense that this event is one of the best kept travel secret's around. While New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro get the headlines, Trinidad's Mas is the Carnival event you should be attending in 2014.
Visit Vacay.ca to read more about the Trinidad Carnival and the Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge.
CORRECTION: This post incorrectly stated that Dominic Walsh was the entrant who used teas in his cocktail. ]]>How I Overcame My Fear of Skiing in One Hourtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.27336932013-02-21T17:29:05-05:002013-04-23T05:12:01-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/
Years ago, I begged out of my middle school ski trip, thoughts of Vinko Bogataj racing through my head. Bogataj is the "agony of defeat" ski jumper made famous by ABC's Wide World of Sports, whose opening montage each Saturday afternoon showed the Yugoslavian athlete careening head over heels, violently sliding off a platform after losing control on his skis. Never mind that Bogataj was a ski jumper, not a downhill specialist. He wore skis, meaning he was in the act of skiing, and that fact, combined with the bitterness of the cold, was enough to convince me I didn't want any part of a sport where control seemed about as easy to hold on to as a snowflake against body heat.
So, for decades, I avoided skis, until last month when I figured I'd go for it, believing I had matured enough to avoid any reckless danger. Worst-case scenario? I'd fall a few times on a bunny hill and have a silly, self-deprecating travel article to share with you.
Instead, this story is about the thrill of victory. It begins in Blue Mountain, a commercialized but exceptionally well-managed resort two hours northwest of Toronto. On Georgian Bay, Blue Mountain and the surrounding area near Collingwood receives more snow than anywhere else in southern Ontario. That's havoc if you're a driver; a dream if you like to go downhill fast and often.
Despite the fact its top elevation is only 220 metres (720 feet), Blue Mountain is the third-most popular ski resort in Canada, following Whistler-Blackcomb in British Columbia and Mont Tremblant in Quebec. Each year, it receives more than 1-million visitors and sells roughly 750,000 lift tickets (the passes that allow you entry onto the slopes). On Sunday, the resort announced a $10-million expansion for the 2013-14 season that will see it add 64 acres of terrain and six trails.
It has several instructors, including Bader, who trains the Blue Mountain staff. Bader holds Level 4 certification, the highest ranking available from the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance (CSIA) and says his greatest joy is at the earliest stages of instruction.
"That's when you see the most progress, when someone goes from simply learning to walk on skis, which can seem really foreign and odd at first, to going down a hill and learning to turn. Seeing the progression is what gets me excited and what makes me love this job," he told me after running me through the first stages of the beginner program during a minus-20 Celsius degree day in January.
Bader first outfitted me with rental gear from the resort. It included a helmet, snow pants and ski jacket, the skis and ski poles, and what I found to be the key to success: a pair of alpine ski boots that weighed about five pounds each and gifted so much support to my ankles it seemed impossible for me to fail at this sport.
Once outside, Bader taught me to walk on skis, going clockwise and counter-clockwise with one ski on and eventually doing so with both skis. The sensation was unnatural, like trying to steady yourself on a surfboard for the first time. It grew more comfortable the longer I wore the gear. We sidled up a small hill, and then I went down a short incline and snowploughed, making a wedge out of my skis so that the tips pointed at each other, a manoeuvre that slowed me to a stop.
Some ski instructors don't favour spending time on the snowplough, or allowing beginners to hold ski poles. I found both useful because they gave me confidence. The first thing I wanted to know when I got on skis was how to stop. We went through the snowplough drill six times as Bader made sure I had that safety technique down pat.
A few minutes later, we were riding a magic carpet -- the name of the moving, vertical walkway that carries skiers from the base of the mountain to the top of the bunny hill -- and Bader and I were soon descending a slope, doing turns and going faster than I imagined I would after less than one hour on skis.
To read the rest of the article and see a video of Adrian Brijbassi learning to ski, visit Vacay.ca.
]]>Why You Should Never Go On a Cruisetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.27082082013-02-18T08:24:22-05:002013-04-20T05:12:01-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/"Shipping Out." Published in 1996 in Harper's Magazine, Foster Wallace's piece is filled with detail upon detail -- most of them describing banal and saccharine moments -- of life aboard mega-liners, vessels the author dubbed "floating wedding cakes."
For critics of the cruise industry, Foster Wallace articulated through satire and keen observation all the reasons we dislike massive ships that manage to take you somewhere and nowhere at the same time. The argument is that even if nothing goes wrong, cruises don't actually give you a travel experience so much as a contrived and shellacked slant on luxury and excess. If you could capture the modern cruise experience in a photograph, it would be of an overweight and aging model whose cellulose, frowns and wrinkles have been Photoshopped away, creating an attractive and marketable vision. When a cruise passenger is confronted with the reality that his or her purchase is fake, superficial and achingly blah, then Foster Wallace's words resonate. The sadness sinks in with the knowledge that your money would've been better spent on a multi-night stay at a luxury hotel exploring one of the world's great cities and attractions close to it, or on a riveting experience like an African safari, or being satiated by a culinary adventure where you get to taste fresh food and culture, rather than dishes prepared for the Western palate and sometimes reheated multiple times because it's difficult to obtain fresh supplies once a ship has set sail from its main port of call.
The best cruise ship experience I enjoyed had everything to do with the activities on land. During a cruise of the Galapagos Islands, I visited eight of Darwin's islands, trailing a naturalist who informed an intimate group of passengers about the delicate ecosystem on each. The boat was a small luxury yacht susceptible to the Pacific's mighty waves, which would assault the ship so hard it sent it into the kind of spastic motions you only want to encounter at an amusement park. I never got sick, but most others on board needed Dramamine or some other aid to keep their guts from spilling over. Still, the rocking ride was part of the experience, and not enough of an inconvenience to make the trip regrettable for anyone. Seeing the Galapagos is an event of a lifetime and one of the few reasons why I am glad cruises exist.
BLOG CONTINUES AFTER SLIDESHOW
I travelled with Ecoventura, which has also hosted Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and their kids. It is a superb company with a stellar record and as accommodating a staff as you will encounter.
Foster Wallace's trip was aboard Celebrity Cruises' m.v. Zenith, a 47,255-ton behemoth he nicknamed the Nadir. That name would also fit the Carnival Triumph, which crawled into an Alabama port over the weekend after being stuck powerless in the Gulf of Mexico following a fire on February 10. Its toilets overflowed, its passengers panicked, its record of mechanical troubles made headlines. After last year's sinking of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Tuscany and other cruise incidents in recent years, the industry is facing greater and greater criticism.
Like all forms of luxury travel, a cruise isn't inherently dangerous. Since 2005, there have been 48 fatalities aboard large cruise ships, and 32 of them occurred during the Costa Concordia disaster. Considering there have been more than 120-million cruise passengers during that timeframe, the fatality rate is low. But those of us who observe the travel industry point out that luxury hotels like the Ritz-Carlton and Kempinski have rarely, if ever, faced questions over safety and crime. That fact is relevant because the amount of money cruise passengers spend on a sailing often equates to a stay at a fine hotel.
CruiseMarketWatch.com says the average cruise passenger shells out $200.85 US per day while on board. That's lower than the average nightly rate at a five-star hotel in most North American cities, but on par with what a four-star hotel room would cost, with breakfast included. You can get deals on cruises just as you can on hotels. Believe it or not, you can book a four-night sailing on the Carnival Triumph starting at $479 (or $120 per day) for a May 16 departure to Cozumel, Mexico.
Something tells me, the cruise line won't be able to give those cabins away. These days, buyers need to be more aware than ever when making their cruise purchase. My advice when someone asks about going on a multi-day cruise aboard a mega-liner is always the same: Don't go. Find a better, more authentic and ultimately more rewarding travel adventure elsewhere. But if you do insist on going on a cruise, Vacay.ca has advice to save you money and potential aggravation.
Visit Vacay.ca for 5 Tips You Must Follow Before Booking a Cruise ]]>The 10 Greatest Sports Prodigies Of All-Timetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-02-10T23:02:03-05:002013-03-21T08:27:15-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/
We want to hear your tips for staying safe on and off the ice!
Share a safety tip or trick in our Healthy Competition contest for a chance to win! Contest closes February 28, 2013.
Here's a list of the 10 Greatest Sports Prodigies of All-Time. Slideshow text follows for mobile readers.
1. Wayne Gretzky
The Great One was a phenom in Brantford, Ontario, scoring 378 goals in one season as a 10-year-old in minor hockey. His prodigiousness led to national notoriety in Canada before he was a teenager. He set scoring records in his rookie season at the major junior level. In 1978, Gretzky signed a $1.75-million contract with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association when he was 17 years old. His NHL career began in 1979 and Gretzky went on to become professional hockey's all-time leading scorer, as well as a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Edmonton Oilers.
2. Venus and Serena Williams
The Williams' sisters dominated the tennis world for the first decade of the 21st century. Elder sister Venus showed signs of greatness early on, picking up the game when she was just four. She held a 63-0 record in the United States Tennis Association's youth tour as a 12-year-old. Meanwhile, Serena compiled a 46-3 record in the same youth tour's under-10 division, placing tops among girls ranked in Florida. The Williams sisters have gone on to win numerous Grand Slam and Olympic titles — both individually and as doubles partners — during their spectacular professional careers. (And, yes, their inclusion as a single entry actually makes this a top 11 list.)
3. Tiger Woods
When he was still in diapers, Woods was golfing on national television, competing at two in a putting contest against comedian Bob Hope. He was featured on "That's Incredible!" when he was five and continued his remarkable ascent, becoming the world's No. 1 golfer and the most recognizable athlete on the planet. He has won 14 major championships, including four Masters' titles. His life and career have not been the same since the 2009 revelation of multiple affairs. That scandal cost him his marriage and endorsements, and landed him in a rehabilitation clinic for sexual addiction. On the golf course, he has struggled to regain the stupendous form of his youth.
4. Magic Johnson
A gifted basketball player, Earvin Johnson earned the nickname "Magic" because of his unreal feats at Lansing High School. He re-invented the point guard position, which was most often manned by the smaller players on the court. But Johnson was 6-foot-9 and could pass and dribble with a level of skill never before seen from someone his size. He went on to win an NCAA national title at Michigan State University and was the No. 1 pick in the 1979 NBA Draft. With Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers won five NBA titles and he was named the league's MVP three times.
5. Michael Owen
Owen established himself as one of the most promising young players in the game from the day he stepped onto a soccer field. He was playing against 11 year olds when he was just eight. The top teams in the English Premier League were courting Owen from the time he was 12. When he made a decision on a club, Owen chose Liverpool over Manchester United and Chelsea. As a 16-year-old, he recorded multiple hat tricks in the FA Youth Cup in 1995-96 as he led Liverpool to its first title in the tournament. A member of the English national team, Owen was named the Best Young Player at the 1998 World Cup.
6. Michael Phelps
The Baltimore Bullet reached the Olympics at 15 years of age. Although he did not win a medal for Team USA at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, Phelps did become the youngest man to break the 200-metre butterfly world record in the 2001 World Aquatic Championships. Records continued to fall and the past three Olympics will be known as the Phelps Era. His 22 Olympic medals, including 18 gold, are more than anyone in history.
7. LeBron James
King James excelled in basketball and football while at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. His skills on the court are what caused chatter among professional scouts and sports media, however. He was the first sophomore to be recognized by USA Today, which annually names an All-USA First Team of high school basketball players. James went straight from high school to the NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers selected him first overall in the 2003 draft. He won Rookie of the Year honours and led the Cavaliers to respectability. Last year, he won an NBA title as a member of the Miami Heat.
8. Tara Lipinski
Lipinski won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics, shocking Michelle Kwan, the favourite to win the women's figure-skating title in Nagano, Japan. Lipinski was just 15 when she accomplished the feat, which culminated a meteoric rise through the ranks of the sport. She won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at age 14, relying on her foundation as a champion roller skater from Philadelphia.
9. Chris Drury
Before he became an NHL champion with the Colorado Avalanche, Drury was an accomplished baseball player. He pitched a complete game and batted in two runs as he led the United States to a victory over Taiwan in the 1989 Little League World Series. In the same year, he won a U.S. championship with his pee wee hockey team. Drury went on to win the Hobey Baker Award as the top American college hockey player while at Boston University before embarking on an all-star career in the NHL.
10. Dwight Gooden
Armed with a blazing fastball and devastating curveball, Gooden overwhelmed high school opponents and blew away Major League Baseball scouts, who were enamoured with the phenom. Gooden made his major-league debut at age 19 with the New York Mets, earning Rookie of the Year honours in 1984. The next year he took home the National League Cy Young Award and in 1986 helped lead the Mets to a World Series title. Gooden, however, could not hold on to the promise of his prodigious talents. Drugs and legal issues tormented him during and after his 14-year career.
Learn How To Stay Safe and Fun with Chevrolet.]]>The Canadian Chef Who's Fed An Olympic Villagetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.25586072013-01-28T12:03:02-05:002013-03-30T05:12:01-04:00Adrian Brijbassihttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/adrian-brijbassi/
In a wildly entertaining weekend at Deerhurst Resort, Smith held court and kitchen in the Muskoka property most famous for hosting Barack Obama, Stephen Harper and the rest of the G8 leaders during their 2010 summit.
Smith didn't have the security detail of those politicians, although he could have used one given the fact his contingent of female fans have a voracious appetite for him as well as his food. Clearly enjoying the attention, Smith hugged, kissed, and signed autographs of his latest cookbook, "Fast Flavours -- 110 Simple Speedy Recipes," for the roughly 200 people who showed up to be in the presence of Canada's most famous chef.
Standing 6-foot-7, Smith came across as a gentle and affable giant with a great deal of admiration for his adopted country. He was the head of food operations in the Athletes' Village at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, turning out up to 12,000 plates a day for the competitors and delegates in a role he called the highlight of his career.
Currently the only chef on the Food Network Canada with an instructional cooking program, "Chef Michael's Kitchen," Smith has lived in Prince Edward Island since immigrating from New York more than 20 years ago. He elevated the Inn at Bay Fortune on PEI to recognition as one of the nation's finest restaurants before his cookbooks and television shows took off, rocketing him to stardom.
"I miss some aspects about being a chef in a restaurant, but I don't miss the hours or the lifestyle," Smith said, reiterating that he has no plans to open an eatery.
What he has been doing is travelling the world, discovering eclectic ingredients and different cooking techniques, and incorporating some of them into his recipes that are designed to be easy to make. By simplifying recipes and the approach to cooking, Smith has underscored that the process isn't about the food, but those who you invite to the table.
At Deerhurst in October, Smith kept his guests enthralled with an interactive dinner that included everyone at each table performing one duty or another in the preparation of the feast. One person was instructed on a salad dressing, another mixed a cocktail with gin from PEI, others used Playdough to create decorations. Deerhurst's talented executive chef Rory Golden and his staff worked with Smith on creating several recipes from the cookbook. The main course was prime rib, a giant slab of which was set on each table and sliced up Thanksgiving-style by a member of the dinner party.
I wasn't sure what to expect from Smith or the weekend and was surprised by the inventiveness of the evening. Far, far from a formal affair, it was jovial and communal, which is what the chef wants to see more of in Canadian homes.
"I think the biggest mistake home cooks make is believing that there is such a thing as perfection," he said. "I really believe that success is when we decide to cook and sit down with our families."